Anti-aneurysm Gel
Aneurysm it is formed with thinning of the vascular wall and requires immediate treatment, as it can lead to rupture of blood vessels.
Blocking catheterization is often used to treat aneurysms, when an agent is injected into the vessel that stops blood flow in the affected area until the vascular wall is completely healed. The blocking material must then be removed. Another method of minimally invasive treatment is the use of liquid blocking agents injected into blood vessels, which subsequently harden. But these agents can leak out during injection and cause necrosis of surrounding tissues. Aneurysms can also be treated by open surgery, but it carries the risk of postoperative narrowing of the vascular lumen.
A research team from the Terasaki Institute of Biomedical Innovation has developed a plastic hydrogel (shear-thinning hydrogel, STH), which has increased binding strength and resists fragmentation even when exposed to strong pulsating fluid flows. Hydrogel behaves like toothpaste in the sense that when applied, it resembles a solution, and when removed, it retains its structure.
Previous versions of STH were susceptible to fragmentation and even decay when exposed to high fluid flow rates in a real aneurysm.
The research team began with the development of gelatin-based STH with the addition of silicate nanoparticles to enhance the ability to maintain mechanical rigidity and physiological stability. The scientists also added an active reagent, a highly charged polycation, to the mixture to give it adhesion without compromising the injectable ability.
To test the effectiveness, STH was injected into vessels and its properties were evaluated under conditions of constant and pulsating flows for 4 days. The researchers were able to observe and quantify the retention of hydrogel fillings. They found that in the simulated blood vessels, the hydrogel successfully remained without fragmentation, while maintaining its injectable ability. Further tests showed that STH did not cause cell damage and did not provoke the death of red blood cells, which indicates its safety in the treatment of vascular diseases.
The research of the STH hydrogel will continue, the aim of the authors is to develop a new generation of injectable biomaterials.
Article by A.Baidya et al. A Cohesive Shear-Thinning Biomaterial for Catheter-Based Minimally Invasive Therapeutics is published in the journal Applied Materials and Interfaces.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the Terasaki Institute: Treating Aneurysms with Injectable Toothpaste-Like Biomaterials.